Owners share combined 100-year history

John McIlvoy and Joe Beatty met and became fast friends just a few years ago as members of the Northwest Houston Vette-Rods club. However, the source of their bond actually dates back about 50 years.

Joe Beatty (left) has owned his 1961 Corvette 47 years, and John J. McIlvoy has owned his 1957 Corvette FI for 52 years.

Both having originally grown up in Ohio, the two also share their affinity for Corvettes, and each bought their own there a half-century ago.

McIlvoy grew up “watching his machinist father” and Beatty grew up on a farm, which are what the pair attribute their work ethic and hands-on approach to car ownership to.

Together, the two have been driving and wrenching on their Corvettes for an impressive collective 100 years, racking up close to a half-million miles between them. Beatty has had his 1961 Corvette for almost 50 years, originally paying $1,000 to the owner, his flight instructor, while serving in the Marines. The instructor had wanted $1,200 but Beatty had only $1,000, so they agreed that if they saw each other again, Beatty would pay the remaining $200.

The beauty has a 270hp 283 engine with two 4bbl carburetors, and it had been a weekend drag racer for the pilot who had owned it. About 25 years ago Beatty and his (at the time) two preteen sons “freshened up” the powertrain and gave it a fresh paint job.

The majority of the time it has spent in the past several decades, though, it has lived an easier life as Beatty’s teacher wife, Patty’s daily driver to and from school.

When asked if he plans to further restore the ’Vette, Beatty said, “If you had a piece of Louis XVI furniture, you would not dip it and strip it. This car has patina.”

John McIlvoy said, “Old Corvettes should have three ‘P’s’, power, patina and provenance. These two Corvettes have over 100 years of power, patina and provenance. Maybe the two drivers as well.”

McIlvoy first spotted his 1957 “Fuelie” Corvette well over 50 years ago, looking out the window while daydreaming in study hall in school. Four years and 30,000 miles later, he would make it his own. Of the 6,339 Corvettes produced in 1957, only 713 included the new fuel injection feature, giving the 283 cubic inch engine the power to produce an equal 283 in horsepower.

McIlvoy said that it, “also includes one of the first T-10 four speed transmissions.”

He drove it for another 70,000 miles before he replaced the engine with a GM short block. Not only serving as a daily driver, McIlvoy installed a trailer hitch and snow tires for its added duties.

In 2010, the car reached 200,000 miles, and at that point, a local Corvette enthusiast stepped in. Leon Wohltman took the pieces McIlvoy had saved over the years during fixes and repairs and restored the car to NCRS top-flight condition, including overhauling and reinstalling the original engine with a new Duntov cam.

McIlvoy said, “Old Corvettes should have three ‘P’s’, power, patina and provenance. These two Corvettes have over 100 years of power, patina and provenance. Maybe the two drivers as well.”

With 61 years of Corvette history and a combined 100-year history with the cars, these two owners are proof that some things get better as the years go by.